Functionalist Theorists

As Owens & Wagner (1992) point out in the introduction to their Progress in Modern Psychology: The Legacy of American Functionalism, "Even the elusive phenomena of consciousness do not exist in some kind of separate mental world, but rather they evolved to help humans and other organisms adjust to the changing conditions of the natural world. Since psychology is closely allied with biology, it is natural for psychologists to draw evidence from biology" (p. 7). The proponents of functionalism were increasingly concerned not only with immediate (proximate) function, but also with evolutionary (ultimate) function, epigenetic development, and the ecological adaptiveness of each and ever

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the biological sciences to explain analogous sociological phenomena. Psychologists using a functionalist perspective view all psychological phenomena from an "organic," evolutionary perspective. That is to say, all psychological processes, whether behavioral or mental, are adaptive. As Owens & Wagner (1992) assert, "The psychologist must always ask, How does this mental activity aid organisms in adjusting to a changeable world, or, more generally, in their struggle to survive? and What does this mental activity accomplish for the organism?" (p. 11). Darwinian (i.e. phylogenetic and adaptational) functions are the focus of evolutionary psychology, behavioral ecology, and sociobiology (Alcock, 1989, p. 50). The behavioral school of psychology (focusing on an organism's observable adaptational responses to the environment) has been most influenced by Darwin's theories. Although Darwin was conscious that genetic changes must occur in organisms over very long periods of time, he founded his theories upon the observable characteristics of species. These expressed traits, or phenotypes, developed as a result of adaptation and natural selection. In other words, an organism's interaction with, and response to, external stimuli pro
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Approximate Word count = 1618
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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